Association of muscle and visceral adipose tissues with the probability of Alzheimer’s disease in healthy subjects

Abstract

Increasing evidence indicates that sarcopenia and obesity can be risk factors for incident dementia. We investigated the association of body composition including muscle and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) with the probability of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in healthy middle-aged and elderly subjects using 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT). This study included 110 healthy subjects with available whole-body FDG PET/CT scans and medical records. Muscle and VAT tissues were measured on the abdominal CT slice, and the PMOD Alzheimer’s discrimination FDG PET analysis tool (PALZ) score was evaluated on the brain PET of the same subject using software PALZ. Skeletal muscle index (r: −0.306; P = 0.031) was significantly negatively associated with the PALZ score in the elderly patients. Muscle area (β: −0.640; P = 0.043) and skeletal muscle index (β: −0.557; P = 0.043) were independently associated with the PALZ score in elderly subjects after adjustments for sex, duration of education, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and smoking and drinking status. Increased muscle tissue was associated with a lower probability of AD in elderly subjects, but VAT was not associated with a lower probability of AD in middle-or older-aged adults.

Skeletal muscle mass is associated with erythropoietin response in hemodialysis patients

“…It is being recognized as a great health issue in the elderly population [ 12 , 13 ]. Growing evidence has revealed that sarcopenia is related to cardiovascular disease [ 14 ], cognitive function [ 15 ], physical performance [ 16 ], and mortality [ 17 ]. The pathogenesis of sarcopenia involves various conditions such as malnutrition and inflammation.…”

Forgot to Exercise? Exercise Derived Circulating Myokines in Alzheimer's Disease: A Perspective

“…Skeletal muscle has been proposed as a central regulator of organismal metabolism, communicating metabolic and proteostasis stress to distant tissues including brain via secretion of circulating "myokines" (28)(29)(30). In agreement with this, multiple epidemiological studies suggest that skeletal muscle aging is a risk factor for the development of age-associated disease (28,31), including those of the CNS (5,32). Skeletal muscle undergoes prominent remodeling during aging (33)(34)(35), and exercise powerfully opposes these local deleterious effects, activating metabolic (31,36) and proteostasis pathways to accommodate increased bioenergetic demands (37).…”

“…Regular exercise plays an essential role in maintaining healthy neurocognitive function and immuno-metabolism in the aging central nervous system (CNS), benefitting cognition and memory during healthy aging (2,3) and reducing the risk of ageassociated neurodegenerative disease (4,5). Indeed, multiple studies in rodent models have demonstrated that exercise, including forced treadmill and voluntary wheel running, powerfully stimulates adult hippocampal neurogenesis (4,(6)(7)(8) and increases brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels in the aging hippocampus (7)(8)(9).…”

Skeletal Muscle TFEB Signaling Promotes Central Nervous System Function and Reduces Neuroinflammation during Aging and Neurodegenerative Disease

“…Indeed, skeletal muscle acts as an endocrine organ secreting a myriad of bioactive factors collectively known as myokines that induce metabolic changes in distant tissues like liver 34 , adipose tissue 35 , and even the CNS 32 . Interestingly, skeletal muscle function has also arisen as a key predictor for phenotypic and clinical outcomes in age-associated neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and Parkinson's Disease (PD) 36,37 . Thus, this muscle-to-brain signaling axis has been proposed to have important implications for CNS aging and age-associated neurodegenerative disease 32,38,39 .…”